In 1912, palaeontologist Arthur Smith Woodward and amateur antiquarian and solicitor Charles Dawson announced the discovery of a fossil that supposedly provided a link between apes and humans: ...Eoanthropus dawsoni (Dawson's dawn man). The publication generated huge interest from scientists and the general public. However, ‘Piltdown man's’ initial celebrity has long been overshadowed by its subsequent infamy as one of the most famous scientific frauds in history. Our re-evaluation of the Piltdown fossils using the latest scientific methods (DNA analyses, high-precision measurements, spectroscopy and virtual anthropology) shows that it is highly likely that a single orang-utan specimen and at least two human specimens were used to create the fake fossils. The modus operandi was found consistent throughout the assemblage (specimens are stained brown, loaded with gravel fragments and restored using filling materials), linking all specimens from the Piltdown I and Piltdown II sites to a single forger—Charles Dawson. Whether Dawson acted alone is uncertain, but his hunger for acclaim may have driven him to risk his reputation and misdirect the course of anthropology for decades. The Piltdown hoax stands as a cautionary tale to scientists not to be led by preconceived ideas, but to use scientific integrity and rigour in the face of novel discoveries.
REPLY TO DEE AND KUITEMS Ledger, Paul M.; Girdland-Flink, Linus; Forbes, Véronique
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
11/2019, Letnik:
116, Številka:
46
Journal Article
New horizons at L’Anse aux Meadows Ledger, Paul M.; Girdland-Flink, Linus; Forbes, Véronique
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
07/2019, Letnik:
116, Številka:
31
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The UNESCO World Heritage site of L’Anse aux Meadows (LAM) in northern Newfoundland is the only undisputed site of pre-1492 presence of Europeans in the Americas. In August 2018, we undertook ...fieldwork at LAM to sample the peat bog 30 m east of the Norse ruins for a multiproxy paleoenvironmental assessment of Norse settlement. Instead, we encountered a new cultural horizon. Here we report our fieldwork at this iconic site and a Bayesian analysis of legacy radiocarbon data, which nuance previous conclusions and suggest Norse activity at LAM may have endured for a century. In light of these findings, we reflect on how the cultural horizon, containing nonnative ecofacts, may relate to indigenous or Norse activities.
The current range of the Asian elephant is fragmented and restricted to southern Asia. Its historical range was far wider and extended from Anatolia and the Levant to Central China. The fossil record ...from these peripheral populations is scant and we know little of their relationship to modern Asian elephants. To gain a first insight to the genetic affinity of an E. maximus population that once inhabited Turkey we sequenced ca. 570 bp mtDNA from four individuals dating to ~3500 cal. BP. We show that these elephants carried a rare haplotype previously only observed in one modern elephant from Thailand. These results clarify the taxonomic identity of specimens with indeterminate morphologies and show that this ancient population groups within extant genetic variation. By placing the age of the common ancestor of this haplotype in the interval 3.7-58.7 kya (mean = 23.5 kya) we show that range-wide connectivity occurred at some time or times since the start of MIS 3, ~57 kya, probably reflecting range and population expansion during a favourable climatic episode. The genetic data do not distinguish natural versus anthropogenic origin of the Near Eastern Bronze Age population, but together with archaeological and paleoclimatic data they allow the possibility of a natural westward expansion around that time.Keywords: Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, ancient DNA
Paleogenomic and archaeological studies show that Neolithic lifeways spread from the Fertile Crescent into Europe around 9000 BCE, reaching northwestern Europe by 4000 BCE. Starting around 4500 BCE, ...a new phenomenon of constructing megalithic monuments, particularly for funerary practices, emerged along the Atlantic façade. While it has been suggested that the emergence of megaliths was associated with the territories of farming communities, the origin and social structure of the groups that erected them has remained largely unknown. We generated genome sequence data from human remains, corresponding to 24 individuals from five megalithic burial sites, encompassing the wide-spread tradition of megalithic construction in northern and western Europe, and analyzed our results in relation to the existing European paleogenomic data. The various individuals buried in megaliths show genetic affinities with local farming groups within their different chronological contexts. Individuals buried in megaliths display (past) admixture with local hunter-gatherers, similar to that seen in other Neolithic individuals in Europe. In relation to the tomb populations, we find significantly more males than females buried in the megaliths of the British Isles. The genetic data show close kin relationships among the individuals buried within the megaliths, and for the Irish megaliths, we found a kin relation between individuals buried in different megaliths. We also see paternal continuity through time, including the same Y-chromosome haplotypes reoccurring. These observations suggest that the investigated funerary monuments were associated with patrilineal kindred groups. Our genomic investigation provides insight into the people associated with this long-standing megalith funerary tradition, including their social dynamics.
The origins and genetic affinity of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands, commonly known as Guanches, are poorly understood. Though radiocarbon dates on archaeological remains such as ...charcoal, seeds, and domestic animal bones suggest that people have inhabited the islands since the 5th century BCE 1–3, it remains unclear how many times, and by whom, the islands were first settled 4, 5. Previously published ancient DNA analyses of uniparental genetic markers have shown that the Guanches carried common North African Y chromosome markers (E-M81, E-M78, and J-M267) and mitochondrial lineages such as U6b, in addition to common Eurasian haplogroups 6–8. These results are in agreement with some linguistic, archaeological, and anthropological data indicating an origin from a North African Berber-like population 1, 4, 9. However, to date there are no published Guanche autosomal genomes to help elucidate and directly test this hypothesis. To resolve this, we generated the first genome-wide sequence data and mitochondrial genomes from eleven archaeological Guanche individuals originating from Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Five of the individuals (directly radiocarbon dated to a time transect spanning the 7th–11th centuries CE) yielded sufficient autosomal genome coverage (0.21× to 3.93×) for population genomic analysis. Our results show that the Guanches were genetically similar over time and that they display the greatest genetic affinity to extant Northwest Africans, strongly supporting the hypothesis of a Berber-like origin. We also estimate that the Guanches have contributed 16%–31% autosomal ancestry to modern Canary Islanders, here represented by two individuals from Gran Canaria.
•The first genome-wide data from the Guanches confirm a North African origin•The Guanches were genetically most similar to modern North African Berbers•Modern inhabitants of Gran Canaria carry an estimated 16%–31% Guanche autosomal ancestry
Rodríguez-Varela et al. report the first genome-wide data from the aboriginals of the Canary Islands, the Guanches, confirming the long-held hypothesis that the Guanches originated from a North African Berber-like population and showing that modern inhabitants of Gran Canaria carry an estimated 16%–31% Guanche autosomal ancestry.
Zooarcheological evidence suggests that pigs were domesticated in Southwest Asia ~8,500 BC. They then spread across the Middle and Near East and westward into Europe alongside early agriculturalists. ...European pigs were either domesticated independently or more likely appeared so as a result of admixture between introduced pigs and European wild boar. As a result, European wild boar mtDNA lineages replaced Near Eastern/Anatolian mtDNA signatures in Europe and subsequently replaced indigenous domestic pig lineages in Anatolia. The specific details of these processes, however, remain unknown. To address questions related to early pig domestication, dispersal, and turnover in the Near East, we analyzed ancient mitochondrial DNA and dental geometric morphometric variation in 393 ancient pig specimens representing 48 archeological sites (from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic to the Medieval period) from Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Syria, and Turkey. Our results reveal the first genetic signatures of early domestic pigs in the Near Eastern Neolithic core zone. We also demonstrate that these early pigs differed genetically from those in western Anatolia that were introduced to Europe during the Neolithic expansion. In addition, we present a significantly more refined chronology for the introduction of European domestic pigs into Asia Minor that took place during the Bronze Age, at least 900 years earlier than previously detected. By the 5th century AD, European signatures completely replaced the endemic lineages possibly coinciding with the widespread demographic and societal changes that occurred during the Anatolian Bronze and Iron Ages.
•End-user assessment of first quantification kit to include both genomic and Y degradation metrics.•Data describes key performance criteria to support application in casework.•Assay can detect mixed ...sexual assault case type samples at quantification stage.•Assay can quantify DNA recovered from human teeth from the middle ages.
The Quantiplex® Pro RGQ kit quantifies DNA in a sample, supports the detection of mixtures and assesses the extent of DNA degradation based on relative ratios of amplified autosomal and male markers. Data show no significant difference in the accuracy and sensitivity of quantification between this and the Promega PowerQuant® System, both detecting the lowest amount of DNA tested, 4 pg. Laboratory controlled mixed male:female DNA samples together with mock sexual assault samples were quantified across a range of mixture ratios. Analysis software detected mixed DNA samples across all ratios for both quantification kits. Subsequent STR analysis using the Investigator® 24Plex QS Kit was able to corroborate mixture detection down to 1:25 male:female DNA ratios, past which point mixtures appeared identical to single-source female samples. Analysis software also detected laboratory degraded DNA samples, with data showing a positive trend between the Degradation Index (DI) and length of time of sonication. When used on ancient remains the assay was able to triage samples for further analysis, and STR profiles were concordant with DNA quantification results in all instances. STR analyses of laboratory-controlled sensitivity, mixture, and degradation studies supports the quality metric obtained from quantification. These data support the use of the Quantiplex® Pro RGQ kit for sample screening and quantification in forensic casework and ancient DNA studies.
Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs Bergström, Anders; Frantz, Laurent; Schmidt, Ryan ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
10/2020, Letnik:
370, Številka:
6516
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Dogs were the first domestic animal, but little is known about their population history and to what extent it was linked to humans. We sequenced 27 ancient dog genomes and found that all dogs share a ...common ancestry distinct from present-day wolves, with limited gene flow from wolves since domestication but substantial dog-to-wolf gene flow. By 11,000 years ago, at least five major ancestry lineages had diversified, demonstrating a deep genetic history of dogs during the Paleolithic. Coanalysis with human genomes reveals aspects of dog population history that mirror humans, including Levant-related ancestry in Africa and early agricultural Europe. Other aspects differ, including the impacts of steppe pastoralist expansions in West and East Eurasia and a near-complete turnover of Neolithic European dog ancestry.
PDF
